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The Rangers released their 2008 schedule yesterday, and it has one major problem for me that I do not like at all.
Evening games are back to 7:05. This is a big problem for me, and that decision alone will probably keep me from going to more games than I’d like. The reason for this is I live and work in Garland, and am done work at 6PM. This means I have to fight rush hour traffic through the Dallas mixmaster to get out to the park, and rush around like an idiot just to make it in time for first pitch. If I have to spend as much money as it costs going to a game, I want to damned well ENJOY MYSELF, and not stress about all the flippin’ traffic I have to get through to get to a game. I want to see some of batting practice, check out the gift shop, and make it to my seat and get ready for the game. 7:05 game times pretty much tell me this will NOT be happening.
I’ll still go to a few games, but 2008 will be the first time since 1996 I have not had some sort of season ticket plan, or at least purchased one of the 10 packs. It’s too expensive, and now at 7:05, it’s pretty darned inconvenient, too.
Of course $12 gas for one game, and $12 parking, not to mention dealing with the hassle of the Glorypark construction nonsense won’t be any fun, either. Any of you guys remember what parking was like at Arlington Stadium when they were building The Ballpark in Arlington? It wasn’t any fun. It’ll be like that again I would imagine.
Anyway, rant over. I’ve taken the schedule and put into an .ics file (more info on ics), which you can download here if you want. This can be imported into a bunch of things like Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, Outlook, or anything else pretty much that has a calendar based function.

Download the zip file, uncompress it, and import. The TV schedule isn’t available yet, when that is available, I’ll update with that. I probably will not put the promotions schedule in there, as even though they make that available before the season, things get added a lot during the season, so it’s somewhat flexible, and makes it hard to schedule ahead of time.
Anyway, if you find this file of some use, please email me back (or comment here), and let me know. I don’t want anything for this, I just would like to know if someone is actually using it.

ESPN has a preview up for all the teams in the AL West, and of course, that includes the Rangers. If you read my site or Jamey Newberg’s, then they won’t be telling you much you don’t already know. But it’s nice to see the national preview. A few bullet points from the piece:

• They think Barry Bonds would be a good fit, citing the chance we took on Sosa last off season. Don’t think so.
• We need to improve starting pitching (Duh – who doesn’t?)
• Arod returning is a “long shot”. I’d go further than that.
• Laird, Padilla, and Loe are our biggest trade baits. Can’t see us moving Pidente unless we get an equally bad contract back.

They do have some nice things to say about Ron Washington, and is a short summary of what you probably already know about our needs going forward. Check it out. You can also check out the previews for the A’s, Angels, & Mariners.

Brad Wilkerson filed for free agency on Wednesday. That brings the Rangers list of players who have filed to three (Wilkerson, Sosa, Hairston). Here is the complete list. This leaves just Jamey Wright eligible to file from the Rangers.
My gut feeling is that Wilkerson is done here.
That is all. Not feeling particularly wordy this morning.

Joaquin Benoit was signed to a two year contract today for 2008 and 2009. Benoit will make $2 million next year and $3.5 million in 2009. He also gets a $500,000 signing bonus.
You know what? Good. A few years back I wouldn’t have been saying that, but he’s developed into a great pitcher out of the pen. The fact that he survived Buck Showalter as well as all the managers and regimes from when he first was called up says something. I know I said something like this during the middle of the season, but it bears repeating on this day when he signed on.
This buys out his last year of arbitration and his first year of free agency.
He’s also the longest tenured Texas Ranger, making his first appearance in August of 2001. The year of Arod, Caminiti, and Galarraga. He’s been here awhile, although he’s been in the system for far longer than that, having originally signed in May of 1996.
I’m glad. Good for Jack.